Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By MadisonCawein

1557 Flight

THE SONG-BIRDS? are they flown away?

The song-birds of the summer-time,

That sang their souls into the day,

And set the laughing days to rhyme?—

No catbird scatters through the hush

The sparkling crystals of its song;

Within the woods no hermit-thrush

Trails an enchanted flute along,

A sweet assertion of the hush.

All day the crows fly cawing past;

The acorns drop; the forests scowl;

At night I hear the bitter blast

Hoot with the hooting of the owl.

The wild creeks freeze; the ways are strewn

With leaves that rot: beneath the tree

The bird, that set its toil to tune,

And made a home for melody,

Lies dead beneath the death-white moon.